Moniz affirms support for Binz

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz still has the back of Ron Binz, the embattled nominee to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

While Moniz declined to comment on Binz’s nomination directly, he argued that Binz’s past comments about coal and natural gas don’t necessarily mean he would turn the independent regulatory body into a partisan entity. Binz’s critics have seized on the nominee’s remarks, saying they show he’s biased against coal and natural gas and in favor of green energy.

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“Mr. Binz has often spoken about natural gas as a transition fuel to a very low carbon economy,” Moniz said in an interview that aired Sunday on C-SPAN’s “ Newsmakers.”

Binz took heat from senators for saying earlier this year that natural gas is a “dead end” unless technology is created to capture its greenhouse gas emissions — a statement he qualified and walked back during his confirmation hearing Sept. 17.

Coincidentally, Moniz himself made similar comments in August, saying: “Eventually, natural gas, if we’re going to get down to really low carbon emissions, natural gas just like coal would have to have carbon capture. But that looks quite a ways off.”

Meanwhile, tackling transmission and integration issues presented to the electric grid by a growing solar and wind sector is only prudent, Moniz added.

“Obviously, renewables are clearly a critical part of a future low-carbon economy — although I did already say, the president is committed to making the investments, so that all of our sources, including coal, have a place, have a competitive position, in a future low-carbon economy,” he said.

Outgoing FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, Moniz added, “also understands that technologies like wind will have a very critical place. It does not change the fact that [FERC commissioners] make objective regulatory judgments in terms of trying to move our energy infrastructure into the 21st century.”

Moniz also noted that even as FERC chairman, Binz would be just one commissioner out of five — further countering the idea that he would be able to steer the agency with any bias or influence from the Obama administration.

“You have five commissioners, you have debate and you are addressing very specific issues,” he said. “I think the nominees, I think, have to be judged on how they approach energy issues but also what their plans are in terms of the agency.”

Despite Moniz’s assessment and backing from green groups, Binz’s nomination appears stalled in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has joined all of the panel’s Republicans in opposing him. That leaves Binz with at best a tie vote, effectively blocking him from being reported favorably out of committee. Even if he were to make it to the Senate floor, Binz’s path to 60 votes would be murky because of the likelihood he would face unanimous opposition from Republicans plus “no” votes from potentially multiple Democrats.

Last week, a committee aide said that “other candidates are being considered to lead FERC,” although White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that Binz is “qualified and the Senate ought to act on his nomination.”

Moniz also spoke about the looming government shutdown but said the Energy Department is prepared to carry out some of its functions — including national security matters, like oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and emergency-readiness issues, like maintaining the ability to respond to a major storm.

Many of DOE’s 13,814 employees would be among those furloughed in the event of a government shutdown. However, 11 presidentially appointed officials would stay on the job, as would a couple thousand other employees. DOE’s shutdown plan says the agency gets lots of funding from multi-year and no-year appropriations — meaning that “in the immediate future, we expect federal employees to continue to report for work as scheduled.”